My Magic Origins

Back in 2009, I was a tutor at MSU Shah Alam *though in my bussiness card its printed as lecturer lol*, my colleague n good friend Encik Abdul Qaadir introduced me to Magic the Gathering for no good reason at all. Now that "magic poison runs through my veins" haha Pada suatu hari, he brought his magic decks over. There were some from Miroddin, Torment, Judgement and Darksteel. Some cards tht I recall were qumulox, crippling fatigue, emissary of despair and ichorid. He also had an Ichorid song he would sing. Gila. Haha.

My friends decks that we played.
Poison injected into my veins.

At first we thought the Sacrilege deck from Torment was a cacat deck with Buried Alive that puts creatures into your graveyard for no reason and having to pay life or discard cards to activate some abilities. Its after awhile only that we realize that Ichorids recurrence is a strong play and that your graveyard can be your 2nd hand haha. U can practically hear the "oooohhhhhh" in our heads haha.

We had fun playing the ready made decks, but the decks were out of the box, untweaked. So after awhile we decided to look for some new cards. He knew a few places and we went to some shop for singles and I bought a Champions of Kamigawa Deck. After that we went to CCE in Center Point. At that time, the latest set was worldwake. Though I knew how booster packs work since my Pokemon TCG times, buying decks seemed easier, so I bought 2. Mysterious Realms with foil Goliath Sphinx, and Bant on the March with foil Giltspire Avenger. At that time I thought these 2 creatures were strong, oh boy was I wrong haha. My friend bought a slightly more expensive Duel Deck: Garruk vs Liliana, and some other Intro Decks.

My 1st 3 decks

So we started playing with the new cards. It was fun but Liliana's deck seemed to be unbeatable. And I kept on trying to win with the Garruk deck but I can only win about 1 out of 5 games. My Kamigawa deck and the 2 intro decks were okay but it wasn't that much fun. I wanted MORE. The next day, I used up almost all of my remaining salary *it was end of the month* and bought another Garruk vs Liliana for myself *I was angry that I cant beat the deck so I wanted it too* and alot of booster packs.

Top: My friend's decks. Still looks new.
Bottom: My decks. Boxes are worn out but cards are sleeved
dont worry

I asked Au Yong which set is the newest, and he said it was Worldwake. So I ONLY bought Worldwake packs at that time. Sadly no Jace TMS, high valued man-lands or anything good. I did get Omnath Locus of Mana (which I traded away to Klona Tham later on) and Stoneforge Mystic though but I traded with Au Yong for another pack. The next pack was crap haha. The sad thing here is, with little knowledge of rotation I figured why would I buy packs other than the most latest set, it'll rotate out anyway. So I have no knowledge of fetches whatsoever. If only there was a time machine I would go back and bitch slap myself, "woi beli Zendikar la gile, ada fetchland la wey!"

Nwy  I have no understanding of formats and rotation at the time so I wanted to build a deck surrounding a legacy card Epic Struggle. Silly me. The deck was fun (with epic struggle being the only legacy card in the deck). I would try my best to win with 20 creatures at my upkeep but usually if I have 20 creatures I would be winning anyway *I didnt realize it was a win-more kind of card*. My friend called the deck "Deck yg boleh beranak-ranak tu". So I kept the name. Haha.

The Epic Struggle now just rests
in my cheap Legacy folder

Also at that time we didnt have a proper teacher, my friend taught me from what he knows and the rest we read up in the manual that came with the new decks. Among several others,
1) We didnt know that the mana that you tap dissapears from your mana pool in between steps and phases, so a card like Fertile Ground is a mana generator that doesnt empty haha.
2) Just because one particular Defender gains you 2 life when it blocks, we applied it to ALL defenders, we were like, it cant be that stupid that it just cant attack haha.

Haha. That time the confusion was real yo.

3) Shroud we didnt get at all. Fahimy, the guy from Comics Mart tried to explain to us by, "Kalau harimau tu dalam hutan tebal kau tak boleh target dia pakai senapang, tapi kalau kau bakar satu hutan tu mati la skali harimau tu" haha not the best anology ever but in the end we understood. That time we were in The Tavern in Cova, we played 3 way mini masters or something. My friend won out of nowhere by draining me and Fahimy 3 life each, staight away won. GGWP.

Fahimy and Cova. Don't think so it's there anymore...

The week after that we went again and my friend went crazy with his Theme Decks. "tema yang penting" he goes. He bought a MonoB Vampire Deck and a weird BG Elf Deck along with some other decks, I rememeber a monoU one with Mahamoti Djinn. I as usual bought more Worldwake packs and a fat pack. I dont remember when but he also bought a Phyrexia vs Coalition Deck and an all foil Slivers Premium Deck.

Phyrexia vs Coalition Duel  Decks.
Premium Series Slivers.

My friend was soo into Slivers ever since they were 1st created. It was like a new species of that devours everything including their home planet? and has a hive mind. Probably something like what Thor was fighting in Stargate SG-1.

I got so addicted to Magic that I wanted to play ALL THE TIME. After alot of games, my friend would call it a day, but I would stay up till late or woke up damn early in the morning to play. With myself. Gila. My friend would say "Ko tak tido ke dam?, gila apa kau ni" haha. At the peak of my addiction I decided to pursue my studies. But due to some events, rather than doing Masters and continue to teach, I decided to do MBBS! Walau. 5 years. GGWP. Kk back to magic.

2009

2009

I was supposed to go to India for 2.5 years. And yup, there's no Magic there. The initial years I was there I didnt bring my cards. I only managed to look at spoilers of Rise of the Eldrazi and was mindblown. *cue explosion sound here*.

Once I was in Summit with my friend Jon and his family,
so I took a minute and ran upstairs to DeCards.
Tapi tutup hahahahahahahaha.

In India, during embryology class, I cant stop thinking that
cumulous oophoros sounds so much like Qumulox lol

After that it was the Scars of Miroddin block. And Miroddin Beseiged block. And New Phyrexia block. When I went back to Malaysia in between years I would go to Comics Corner and buy fatpacks, singles and booster packs. But I couldn't play. Or so I thought. On my next trip back to India I didnt bring food, instead I brought my magic collection to India! (Thirsty Hyppo I still bawak though cz I need it to prevent the fungus)

One time when I was in Malaysia opening New Phyrexia packs in my friends car in MidValley, my old friend Klona Tham saw the cards. It seems he used to play magic too. During Ravnica City of Guilds and I was like WHATTT why never tell me sooner. And I reignited his spark haha. After that he started by playing the m13 monoB event deck, then the Innistrad Event deck *with Fiend hunter*, after a while he got the hang of it and he make his own decks, UW tokens, WG aggro and the list goes on. Before I knew it he was better than me! Damn it Tham! haha. But he was my go to guy when I was in India. I would ask him to buy them for me in case they run out of stock like fatpacks or singles that I wanted.

We always greet each other with Kero Kero or Tama Tama
when on the phone. I just cant recall why haha.

He's good with babies too! Calon suami tebaikkkkkkk
Kero kero kero

Back in India, enter my 2 friends. Muhammad Naim Nor Azmi and Muhammad Nadzim. Haha. Finally I got kaki there already. Cant recall how we started playing in the first place but thank heavens we did! We stayed in different houses in India but I had my trusty scooter, my magic collection and magic poison in my veins. So whenever I'm not studying or with my girlfriend (now wife mind you), I would be in their house playing magic haha. After playing with just my cards, Nadzim suggested we print proxies. Wait. A. Minute. Omg thats a great idea!

Please ignore shantini. I didnt have a picture
with Nadzim  alone lol

That time Tempered Steel decks were winning everywhere, and I really like the deck. So I printed most of the cards at manipal library. Haha, pelik je librarian tu tgk, apa kejadah nye ni. Unfortunately Nadzim and Naim had other plans. They printed modern and legacy cards. Guess it was okay in casual play. Nadzim made a UR dragon control deck with Sol Ring, Cryptic Command, Remand, Quicksilver Amulet and yeah, Dragons. Naim printed a Treefolk deck with Dusgrove Elder and other stuffs. And ofcourse these 2 were winning games and I wasnt haha. Mana boleh standard lawan legacy gila.

Adam: Tempered Steel. Nadzim: UR Dragons Legacy. Naim: MonoG Treefolk Legacy.

For a brief moment, my friend and later groupmate in Melaka, Kar Yong also played Magic with me. He usually uses a Knights deck or my homebrew Selesnya Overwhelming Stampede deck. At one time he was my Secret Santa of and the clue he gave was White Knight, (the 2/2 first striker P black), that moment I know it was him ready. Too bad he doesn't play anymore.

Knights Deck with the White Knight

Kar Yong, Hasyim and Naim were housemates in MP Park. I was with Jon and Ezmir in Nirmal Shelter.
Aki stayed in Amartya Sen Hostel, he didnt play magic until we got back to Malaysia during m14.
Photo taken at manipal annual night few years after India.

After awhile Hasyim Ismail joined the fray! We would play my cards or the proxies but his cards were in Malaysia. And also, I managed to teach my housemates Ozri Jon and Ezmir Rizwan Magic too, and finally I can play at my house haha. As luck would have it, my close friend Premjeet Singh Dhillon plays magic too! And the next time he came back from Malaysia he brought along his strong white decks with IMBA swords and stuff. Prem is from Singapore and he told me back then people who play magic are geeks called, wait for it, MAGEEKS! haha. Lantakla, I'm proud to be a mageek. Also in our circle of friends were laidback guys Skantha and Hao Yi. Sometimes we would have a 5 or 6 way EDH style battle but with 60 card decks. Ah whatever lah, casual je. Lol fond memories. All of it. 

Naziera's 2nd birthday in India. At Ohh Papi.

Naziera's 1st bithday in India. At Cafe Coffee Day. 

Fast forwarded into the future, Hao Yi passed to me some of his old common uncommon cards and Prem passed me his old rares that are not in his decks. Hasyim too passed me his SP and MP sunburst cards haha. They were awesome, thanks guys!

But my friend Encik Abdul Qaadir, who I call Jaam. The first person who taught me how to play magic properly, gave away all of his collections to me right before he got married. Thanks Jaam. His only request for me is that I never sell or dismantle his Sliver Deck. Haha, man that love for Slivers is real yo. No worries my friend, theyre in safe hands. All of his cards I kept in a separate shoe box, and he can take his Slivers back anytime.

Prem's Rare Folder

Hao Yi's old common & uncommons,
and Hao Yi & me at Autumn Night

Jaam's last time being active with MTG.
The following year or so he passed
his cards to me D:

Nwy to bring us up to speed as how Team Magic Adam was established, once we were back in Melaka, in 2012, Nadzim and I looked for a new magic spot and we found Epic Toyz in BB Bazaar.

The old shop in BB Bazaar. Nik gtau aku dulu kedai magic ni kat bwh, kat lot Hungry Bear,
ada byk pintu bagai. Pergh mesti best gila dulu

 If QJ remember correctly we would be in our formal attire in between or after classes haha. And since I was housemates with Hasyim and Naim, things were easy and the team was born. 

And sometime later during m14 and magics anniversary I brought along Low Aki who got hooked and joined the team, Welcome comrade! 

Who knew back when we were in India *left photo* we would be comrades in Magic.
And who knew we would befriend an Italian Magic player *can still remember his expressions when he took damage lol*
Aki is a crucial member of Team Magic Adam, along with Hasyim and Naim *on/off Bryan, and for awhile, Bulu*

And though the team has lost some members like Nadzim and Bulu aka Hazwan Bin Burhanudin along the way, the planeswalker spark in all of us shall never fade away, as long as the magic poison is in our veins.

To end this post I strung together some photos that isnt exactly origins but more of the memorable moments that come after 

Dr Koh & Fidzrin in between PreRelease sessions

Akmal having breakfast on his bike otw
to PreRelease

The M15 promo, send a photo with you and Garruk for a chance to get
his Nerf Axe in the mail. My face was there for quite some time.
Didn't win though obviously haha

Most memorable magic trip in my life. Damn those hashtags hahaha.

People come and go. But planewalker sparks never die off.

#magicorigins